Matzav

John Bolton, a long-standing figure in Republican foreign policy circles and one-time national security adviser, turned himself in to federal authorities on Friday following his indictment for alleged mishandling of classified information. The charges come after a federal grand jury issued an 18-count indictment accusing him of improperly keeping or transmitting sensitive government materials.

Bolton appeared at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, for his first hearing a day after the grand jury delivered the indictment. Prosecutors claim the 76-year-old retained and shared restricted national security documents during his time serving under President Trump, in violation of federal law.

According to the indictment, Bolton allegedly used a personal AOL email account to send some of the classified materials to individuals not authorized to receive them. The document further asserts that over 1,000 pages of sensitive notes were shared with his wife and daughter, neither of whom held the necessary security clearances.

Prosecutors also allege that Bolton transmitted information labeled “top secret” using various messaging platforms. The material reportedly included intelligence related to planned U.S. military operations and foreign adversaries, actions that investigators say violated strict national security protocols.

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The world was horrified months ago by a Hamas propaganda video showing Israeli hostage Evyatar David, frail and starving, digging what he said was his own grave. Now, a new Channel 13 investigation reveals the disturbing methods behind that footage, based on testimony from released captives and their families. According to the report, David and his fellow hostage, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, were intentionally starved and separated inside the tunnels so that they would appear skeletal on camera for “proof-of-life” recordings. Once the footage was completed, they were given food again. The August video, later released publicly with the family’s consent to expose Hamas’ cruelty, showed David emaciated and clutching a shovel deep underground.

In the chilling clip, David is seen marking off the passage of time on a crude calendar attached to the tunnel wall.

He was bare-chested, his ribs protruding sharply, his body a shadow of what it once was. Every muscle seemed wasted away, and he appeared to have been isolated for months without human contact or adequate nutrition. His arms looked so thin that his biceps were barely distinguishable from his forearms.

Hamas had also filmed David and Gilboa-Dalal watching other hostages being released, a deliberate act meant to torment them psychologically. Families say these orchestrated scenes were designed to destroy morale — the captors selectively showed moments of freedom to make those still imprisoned feel abandoned and hopeless.

Fresh accounts from recently freed hostages’ families have shed further light on the nightmare and the courage that persisted despite it. The mother of Elkana Bohbot told Israeli media that her son used bits of cloth and thread given by his captors to sew a small teddy bear for his young child, Re’em, while still in captivity. That handmade toy was seen in his hands when the two were finally reunited at Sheba Medical Center.

Speaking for the first time from his hospital bed, released hostage Maksim Herkin told Channel 13 that the public demonstrations in support of the captives were what gave him and others the strength to endure. “I said I would be back in the morning; it took me two years,” he said, offering an emotional apology to his mother and describing his return as “the victory of every citizen.”

In another testimony, the mother of Rom Braslavski detailed the mental and physical torment her son endured. She said Hamas guards kept him alone for long stretches and manipulated him with false news meant to convince him that Israel had fallen. For a time, he was so starved that he resorted to burning bits of clothing to boil pasta after being given only half a pita each night. She added that he wasn’t held in tunnels but was force-fed shortly before his release, leading to dangerous fluctuations in his blood sugar since his return.

{Matzav.com}

US special envoy Steve Witkoff reaffirmed the Trump administration’s determination to recover the bodies of all hostages who remained in Gaza, speaking with resolve about the mission’s ongoing urgency.

“We will pursue the return of the bodies of the deceased until they all come home. And I’m confident they will all come home,” Witkoff said during remarks at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, where an event was held marking two years since Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

Witkoff credited President Donald Trump with playing a decisive role in achieving the ceasefire last week that led to the liberation of every living hostage still held by Hamas.

“President Trump understands something most leaders forget — that moral clarity without strength means nothing, and it is that combination of conviction and power that has saved lives,” the envoy declared.

Reflecting on the delicate diplomacy that led to the agreement, Witkoff said that during the final phase of negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month, mediators succeeded in convincing “Hamas that keeping the remaining 20 hostages was no longer an asset. It was their liability, and they began to believe it.”

He recalled his personal experiences on two visits to Gaza over the past year.

“Each time I wear my black MAGA [hat], and people come up to me on the Gazan side because they want peace too,” Witkoff said.

“They want stability, opportunity, a better life for their children. A future for Gazans must include jobs, education, hope, aspirations — not just guns and violence,” he continued.

“Israel should never have to live under the threat of rockets flying at its people or the fear of terrorist attacks. But Gazan people must be able to live a decent life as well or there won’t be a possibility for long term peace.”

Witkoff reiterated that “Hamas must unequivocally disarm, and they can have no future in Gaza; no future as they have been,” hinting that Washington could accept Hamas’s continued presence in the territory only if it completely renounced its extremist ideology.

“Only when extremism ends can prosperity begin. Peace in the region will save countless lives of Israeli and Gaza alike, and bring dignity to those who have suffered for far too long,” Witkoff said, pledging to accelerate the expansion of the Abraham Accords in the aftermath of the ceasefire.

{Matzav.com}

During a CNN town hall on Wednesday night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont grew visibly frustrated when Ocasio-Cortez was asked if Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer should be worried about a possible primary challenge from her.

Both lawmakers bristled at the question, raising their voices as they dismissed the topic and accused the media and Republicans of ignoring more pressing national concerns.

“I mean, no, because I don’t think this is about anything… This is what we’re talking about!” Ocasio-Cortez exclaimed.

As she began to respond, Sanders jumped in forcefully. “Let me jump in on this one,” he said, before launching into a tirade about the nation’s problems.

“That’s exactly what we’re talking… we have a country that is falling apart!” he shouted. “We had a housing crisis, a health care crisis, an education crisis, massive income and wealth inequality, corrupt campaign finances, and the media says, ‘Are you going to run? What are you going to run for?’ Nobody cares!”

CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins countered that the question wasn’t random, noting that both Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump have recently brought up the possibility of Ocasio-Cortez challenging Schumer in 2026.

Sanders argued that those remarks from Vance and Trump were simply an attempt to “deflect attention away from the real issues,” pivoting again to what he described as America’s systemic failures.

“We’re living in the richest country in the history of the world, right? All right, you tell me why we’re the only nation not to guarantee health care to all people. The only nation not to guarantee paid family and medical leave, why we have a $7.25 an hour minimum wage, why we have 800,000 people sleeping out on the street,” Sanders said.

“Let’s talk about that issue — not her political future. She’ll decide that,” Sanders added, bringing the exchange to a close.

The discussion was only the latest instance of speculation about Ocasio-Cortez’s potential rise within the Democratic Party, which has intensified amid internal disputes over Schumer’s approach to the ongoing government shutdown.

Earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez appeared on MSNBC to discuss the stalemate, telling Republicans, “My office is open, and you are free to walk in and negotiate with me directly,” a statement that prompted fresh questions from GOP lawmakers about who is truly steering Democratic strategy.

In the days following that appearance, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was confronted by a reporter asking if Republicans should take Ocasio-Cortez up on her offer.

“There was a thought from the Republicans that AOC is directing this, and she said that senators are welcome to go to her office directly. Is she driving that?” the reporter asked.

“Why are you saying such a ridiculous thing?” Pelosi shot back. “She’s wonderful, she’s a real team player, and the rest of that. You started by saying Republicans say that she’s directing this. She is not, Hakeem Jeffries is.”

{Matzav.com}

A federal judge has removed travel limitations on Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, granting him permission to attend rallies and public gatherings across the United States while he continues to contest the deportation proceedings initiated under the Trump administration.

Khalil, who was released from an immigration detention facility in Louisiana this past June, had petitioned a federal magistrate judge to cancel the restrictions that had confined his movement to New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Louisiana, and Michigan.

“He wants to travel for the very significant First Amendment reasons that are at the bottom of this case,” his lawyer, Alina Das, said during a virtual court session on Thursday. “He wants to speak to issues of public concern.”

Government attorney Aniello DeSimone opposed the request, contending that Khalil “has not provided enough of a reason why he couldn’t attend these and other events telephonically.”

On Thursday, Magistrate Judge Michael Hammer ruled in Khalil’s favor, emphasizing that he was not deemed a flight risk and had abided by all conditions of his release.

Hammer also accepted the government’s stipulation that Khalil must notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in advance of any planned travel.

Khalil, known for his role in the Columbia University demonstrations protesting the war in Gaza, was taken into custody by ICE agents on March 8, becoming the first university activist detained under President Donald Trump’s initiative targeting pro-Palestinian demonstrators. A graduate student at Columbia and a lawful U.S. permanent resident, Khalil spent months in detention before his release in June by a separate federal judge, during which he missed the birth of his first child.

In September, an immigration judge in Louisiana determined that Khalil was subject to deportation for allegedly omitting information on his green card application. His legal team has since filed an appeal challenging that decision.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had not been informed about the indictment of John Bolton, who served as his national security adviser, but described the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations as a “bad guy.”

Earlier in the day, a federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Maryland, issued an 18-count indictment against Bolton — eight counts related to the transmission of national defense information and ten counts concerning the retention of such material.

According to prosecutors, while working in the Trump administration, Bolton provided “more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities” to two individuals who were not authorized to receive it.

Trump was speaking with reporters in the Oval Office following an announcement about new efforts to expand access to in vitro fertilization when a journalist asked, “John Bolton was just indicted by a grand jury in Maryland. Do you have a reaction to that?”

“I didn’t know that; you are telling me for the first time,” Trump replied. “But I think he’s, you know, a bad person. I think he’s a bad guy, yeah. He’s a bad guy. It’s too bad, but that’s the way it goes. That’s the way it goes, right? That’s the way it goes,” he added.

When pressed further with the question, “Have you reviewed the case against him?” Trump responded, “No, I haven’t, I haven’t. But I just think he’s a bad person.”

Since his dismissal from the White House in September 2019, Bolton has been an outspoken critic of Trump.

Rumors of a possible indictment began circulating earlier in the week after a grand jury was convened on Wednesday. Justice Department sources told the New York Post that charges were expected by midweek, with one official calling the case against the 76-year-old “airtight.”

The grand jury’s move came after FBI agents carried out searches in August at Bolton’s Maryland residence and his Washington, D.C., office, looking for evidence connected to the alleged removal of “highly sensitive national security” documents.

Bolton is expected to turn himself in on Friday at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, who was appointed by President Barack Obama.

Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that his client “did not unlawfully share or store any information.”

{Matzav.com}

The first New York City mayoral general election debate between Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa took place last night at 30 Rock.

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